1. Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to a method, a system, and an apparatus capable of forming a composite image, in which one image is combined with another image. Another aspects of the present invention relate to a computer usable medium in the method, the system, and the apparatus for forming such a composite image.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, a method to form a composite image on a recording medium by using a printing apparatus with a scanning unit has been known. Image data representing an image (first image data), passed from an external device to the printing apparatus, is combined with another image data (second image data) obtained through the scanning unit and output as a combined image on a recording medium, such as a sheet of paper. In this method, the second image data obtained through the scanner unit is temporarily stored in a data storage so that the second image data being stored is combined with the first image data upon an instruction from the external device.
In another configuration, an operation to scan an objective image is conducted in synchronization with an outputting operation (i.e., a printing operation) so that the second image data obtained through the scanner unit is combined with the first image data to be output as a composite image. The latter configuration is disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication HEI7-326523, for example.
In the latter configuration disclosed in the above-referenced publication, it is suggested that, in order for the second image data representing the scanned image is combined into the first image data in a desired position, the user is required to configure the first image data to have an indication for the position of the scanned image prior to the printing operation.